27. Joan Elliott Autumn Fairy Face

Joan Elliot Autumn Fairy

Stitched over 1 on 28 count tan evenweave.

Substituted DMC for metallics and French Knots for beads.

26. The Little Stitcher 12 Days of Christmas Day of Birds and Little Animals

Day of Birds and Little Animals
From The Little Stitcher 12 Days of Christmas booklet.

Stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain Linen

25. Sweetheart Tree Band Sampler Round Robin

Karen's Sweetheart Tree Autumn Band Sampler.

Bands from Heirloom Roses 

with added squirrel from Brenda Keyes.

Fabric is 28 count Jobelan from Under the Sea Fabrics.

The whole piece so far:

24. Sheepish Designs Easter Wabbit

Sheepish Designs Easter Wabbit

Stitched on 18count pink evenweave and made into a bag with a chocolate bunny and a skein of Jodyri thread, the one I used in the design.  This one went to Jan of Thread Garden:

23. Twisted Threads Easter Bunny

Twisted Threads Itty Bitty Easter Bunny.  

I stitched this over 1 on 25 count yellow fabric and made it into a little bag into which I popped a chocolate bunny and a skein of the Jodyri thread I used in the design.  This went to Michelle of Michelle's StitchCraft Place

22. Carand88 Frankenstein's Kitty

Stitched on 32 count lavender evenweave using recommended DMC

I love the bright green - 907 for information.

Frankenstein's Kitty is one of a series of spooky kitties designed by Carand88 based on the microkitties animations designed by Hyraea.

21. Knotted Tree Little Owl Sampler

The Little Owl Sampler by Knotted Tree NeedleArt from the Just Cross Stitch Hallowe'en Ornie Special 2012.

I used the recommended DMC conversion, subbed 930 for 327 and used a blend of 930 and 931 for the border.  The fabric is 32 count Twilight Blue Linen.  I intend to scrapbook this one along with the companion piece which features a pumpkin.

20. Mirabilia Baby Round Robin

This was a top secret project for our dear RR friend Rachel.

She discovered that she was expecting a baby so a group of us decided to stitch a "Mirabilia Baby and Child" themed project for her.

My bubble comes from Fairy Tales, a Mirabilia chart from 1996:

Mirabilia - Fairy Tales

I chose this design because of the book.  The most wonderful thing you can do for a child is to instil a love of books by reading to them.

19. The Little Stitcher 12 Days of Christmas Day of Trees

Day of Trees

From The Little Stitcher 12 Days of Christmas booklet.

Stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain Linen

18. Maria's Wedding Sampler

Stitched on 32 count white evenweave

This is the sampler I stitched for my friend's wedding last weekend.

The motifs come from various places.  

The hearts are from Carton-Marie (I stitched the whole piece for my cousin's wedding last year).  

"Love" is from Happiness is Cross Stitching.  

M and D (their initials) are from iStitch's Mystery SAL 

and the butterfly is from a random download I've had in the file for ages (sadly no originating website on it).

17. With Thy Needle & Thread April Wordplay

April Wordplay by With Thy Needle & Thread's Brenda Gervais.

Stitched on 32 count lemon yellow fabric, stitched over one.  

I converted the charted GAST to DMC but the colours were rather muddy (unlike the original GAST) so I just made my own colours up instead!  I used some nice 3000 greens for the lettering and a brighter red for the little trailer.  I also changed the word peeps to cheep because we don't have peeps here (I understand they are a type of sweet?).

The fabric isn't striped, they show through from the mount, but it's a good effect I am pleased with.

This is how I mounted the picture for my scrapbook using a nice piece of (recycled) Easter Egg ribbon round the edge:

January can be seen here.

16. Just Nan Band Sampler Round Robin

 Broader bands from Sweet Rememberance and the narrow bands from Cynthia's Sampler.  

The charted colours from Sweet Rememberance worked well with a couple of tweaks.

These are my bands

And a diagonal shot: 

And this is the whole piece, taken in a different light.  It is very hard to get the colours quite accurate.

The fabric is Garden Princess by Sugar Maple Fabrics (in case you were wondering!)

15. The Little Stitcher Alice in Wonderland

Stitched on 19 count Ariosa Antique Rose

using Jodyri Threads ChaChaCha and DMC B5200

This is a freebie available on The Little Stitcher's FB page to promote her new Alice in Wonderland chart.

14. Parrots Bookmark

Close up of the bookmark, I used the leftover threads to make the tassel.

Gwen of Guava Gems left the 5000th comment on my blog.  I wanted to send something suitable so I read through her blog and saw she was taking part in the Snooty Parrots SAL.  I had this little parrot bookmark in my stash, a cover kit from Cross Stitcher magazine.  I used their colours but changed the parrots around a little to make them more colourful.  In the parcel I included a piece of this fabric, I couldn't find any with parrots on but this is very colourful.  I also included a skein of Jodyri's Over The Rainbow thread which includes the same colours as the parrots and a Lucie Heaton booklet of Summer Stitching.

13. The Little Stitcher 12 Days of Christmas Day of Warmth

Day of Warmth

From The Little Stitcher 12 Days of Christmas booklet.

Stitched on 32 count Vintage Grain Linen

12. Southwest Designs - Kokopelli

Kokopelli

Native American fertility deity also associated with music (hence the pipe) and "an important conveyor of information and trinkets from afar, a Story Teller, par excellence".

Chart from Southwest Designs by Jenny Rasmussen.

I stitched him on 32 count evenweave over 1 using a Jodyri Variegated thread called Peacock Feathers.

There are jellybabies wrapped in the bag.

The backing fabric is a velvet furnishing fabric sample.

11. The Snowflower Diaries Spring Witch

March Choice for the Hallowe'en Ornie SAL Blog

I chose the Spring Witch by The Snowflower Diaries

I stitched her on a piece of random 28 count linen I had using the recommended DMC.  

The only change I made was to give the witch green eyes and I used satin stitch for the broom.  I just love the effect I got using that stitch.  

There are three more seasonal witches and I will definitely stitch them all.
  

Here is the full picture mounted:

10. Brooke's Books Vampire

I saw this design in the Just Cross Stitch Hallowe'en Special 2013 and I knew I wanted to stitch her as soon as I saw her.  So when I was planning the themes for Hallowe'en SAL blog I thought "if I choose Vampires I can stitch that 1920s Vampire Lady".  Perfect.

Then, along comes February, I dig out the magazine and realise that Brooke Nolan had designed her as a Bat Witch!  I decided to leave off the witchy accessories (broom, hat and bat) and add some little fangs so she looks like the Vampire I envisioned.

I stitched her on 32 count lilac evenweave using the recommended DMC and Mill Hill beads.  I subbed the Kreinik for DMC Metallic because they are a fraction of the price and go much further being a stranded thread.

09. Just Nan Band Sampler Round Robin

Bands taken from Just Nan NeedleStory

Stitched for Measi's Bold Band Sampler

I used the colours she provided plus some additional lilacs and beads.



The whole piece so far:

08. Somebunny to Love Bathtime Bunny

Cover Gift with WOCS magazine issue 213

Stitched on 14 count aida

Given to my friend as a Birth Card for her fourth child.